Laurier Macdonald High School opened in September 1969 without a building. The new school was to serve the
English-speaking Catholic population of the
City of Saint-Léonard. While an older building at 5750
Metropolitan Autoroute (A-40) originally built as a factory was being converted into a high school, the Commission Scolaire Jérôme-Le Royer rented classrooms at a nearby Protestant school (
Dunton High School) so that students could attend classes during the late afternoon and early evening. This arrangement ended in early 1970 when the Metropolitan Autoroute facility was ready. Within a few years, however, the old building's limitations were judged to be too serious, in spite of the renovations, and the school board began discussing the construction of a new building in earnest. The
changing political climate in the province proved to be a problem, however. The
Parti Québécois government had declared a moratorium on the construction of English schools shortly after its accession to power in the fall of 1976. A student strike was organized in the month of November 1973, led by a rebellious student named Frank Fazzari, to bring to the public's attention the harm caused by the treatment of all English-speaking schools in the eastern part of Montreal. The strike by students was the answer to the school being neglected by the Jérôme-Le Royer School Board. An overpopulated school with a capacity of 800 students was serving 1200 students. The school was in disarray with one janitor to maintain the facilities, no washroom facilities operational, doors with no locks, holes in cinder block walls, shortage of classrooms, and unsanitary conditions. The walkout was well documented in both the English and French media. A front-page article in the now-defunct
Montreal Star depicted the story of neglect with a picture of Frank Fazzari holding up one broken sink in the washroom as a symbol of defiance towards the neglect of English-speaking students had to endure. As this was happening, the Jérôme-Le Royer School Board had just completed, in 1969, the most advanced comprehensive was French speaking high school on the territory of Saint-Léonard,
Antoine de St-Exupéry, while Laurier Macdonald was nothing more than a school in rented facilities. This was much to the dismay of the population of Saint-Léonard's English-speaking parents and students. However, with the opening of the new Antoine de St-Exupéry francophone high school, the building formerly used to house French-speaking students was now available. The
Aime Renaud building (also a rented building on Metropolitan) became a junior English High School to feed Laurier Macdonald. This greatly alleviated the overcrowding at Laurier Macdonald. Aime Renaud High School was used as a junior high for Secondary I and II while Laurier Macdonald was used for Secondary III, IV and V. The media pressure and exposure prompted a quick reaction from the school board with a meeting with the student council who presented a petition on behalf of the students with the demands that their school be equipped with the maintenance and the proper equipment to operate a school burdened by overpopulation. The board's reaction was a temporary closing of the school for one week and much to the dismay of all the members at the school board, they managed to repair, paint and fix all the anomalies. in the school. The media was invited to see all the repairs. This spurred the quest to build a school that would match the comprehensive high school of the French-speaking community. It is the belief of many that attended the first years at the Metropolitan facilities that their determination was to be the voice of defiance that led to the awakening of the necessity for better school facilities. A debt of gratitude is owed to Joseph Lalla for directing the students on the eve of the strike, with the use of his political savviness and knowledge of using the media as a propaganda tool and the use of his telephone in his office to contact the media. The school board then decided to extend a small elementary school,
École Sir George-Étienne-Cartier, at the corner of
Jean-Talon and
Viau streets. The project would not have been approved by the
provincial Department of Education had it been presented otherwise. The new (and current building) opened for the 1983–4 school year.
Roussin Academy in
Pointe-aux-Trembles was closed and the students were transferred to the new Laurier Macdonald for the 1983–4 school year. Laurier Macdonald was a comprehensive high school from 1983 (or in French,
école polyvalente) until that distinction was abolished provincially in the early 1990s. These schools offered high school students the possibility of
vocational training in the last cycle of secondary education. Until September 2020 it was school the only remaining English-language senior high school on the island of Montreal, serving only Secondary III, IV, and V students. It has been
non-confessional since the school board reorganization of 1998. Previously, public schools in the province of Quebec had been organized along confessional lines (Protestant or Catholic) instead of linguistic lines (English or French).
Past staff and alumni Louis Balena served as the second principal of Laurier Macdonald, succeeding Miss T. Arbour, from 1972 until 1987. Frank Vatrano and Tony Cambria succeeded him but both had short tenures, with Vatrano passing away shortly after becoming principal. Renzo Orsi (1991–1993) followed. He organized the
Honours Plus Programme, the forerunner of today's
IB Programme, and supported the expansion of the school's
Communication Arts programme. Other principals included Joseph Lalla (1993–1996), Mario Tirelli (1996–2000), Pasquale Buttino (2000–2007), Eileen Kelly (2007–2011), and Luigi Santamaria (2011-2020). Notable graduates of Laurier Macdonald include multiple, award-winning IMAX producer and filmmaker
Pietro L. Serapiglia (class of 1973) –
Titanica,
Super Speedway,
Rocky Mountain Express, Grey Cup winners
Randy Chevrier and
Danny Maciocia, former head coach of the
Edmonton Eskimos in the Canadian Football League,
Frank Zampino (1976), former Chairman of the Executive Committee of the
City of Montreal, and
Hussain Yoosuf, a former member of the Juno Award-winning
Canadian hip-hop pioneers
Dream Warriors who went on to a career as a solo artist under the stage name of "
Spek". The school named its pastoral centre (now referred to as the Spiritual and Community Life Center) after Father Gagné, a former pastoral animator at Laurier Macdonald, its sports complex after Canadian runner and activist,
Terry Fox, its auditorium after Ralph Iadeluca, a former school commissioner at Jérôme-Le Royer, and one of its lounges after Marguerite McKee, a former French teacher. All designations were made posthumously. Laurier Macdonald High School is one of the few public high schools in the Montreal area to have an alumni association. It was founded by Francis Scardera (Class of '84) and is a registered non-profit association. The association helps organize 10, 20, and 25-year reunions. All proceeds go to special projects in the school. The association has a website. Alumni can register their email addresses there. Facebook groups are created for reunions as needed. ==Today==